This is a personal call to those of you who have over the years participated in the rather numerous programs and working groups we have since 1988 carefully crafted and maintained in support of worldwide peer collaboration and exchange in our tough but important field: under the New Mobility Agenda,World Streets or one of its sister publications (see below), or who have of late plugged in to our pages on Facebook or Twitter. I feel pretty quite comfortable in doing this since you know what we are trying to do, and who better for me to turn to at a time of need. (And oh yes, for those who may not recall, that citation above was by Nobel Prize winner Professor Ernest Rutherford, on taking over the quite broke Cavendish Laboratory in 1919, in the wake of the First World War.)

Here’s the problem: I am often told that World Streets and our ambitious New Mobility Agenda give the impression of being an ambitious, trouble free, fully funded operation. Would that it were so. Our bare bones operating budget is on the order of $8,000/month — way beyond what I am able to continue to fund out of pocket. So I need your help. And for this reason I appeal to you, our partners in the rocky road to sustainable transport and sustainable cities, to step forward now so that we can keep going and meet at least a part of our ambitious objectives for 2011.

Since you know 1/ what we are trying to accomplish is important and 2/ that we need more funds to keep our operations going, I can make this fast:

1. Become a World StreetsShareholder. You accomplish this by digging into your personal pocket to help keep World Streets going in 2011. By doing this you actively share ownership of and commitment to our basic driving concept: namely that the only way to make the transition to sustainable transport and sustainable cities is through cutting VMT/VKT, without sacrificing life quality or the economy. And that we need to do it without wasting any further time. We can do it, and we should do it. So if you are in agreement with this, and can afford it, please click here for details on how to make a donation. Any contribution, large or small, is an important vote of support for what we are trying to accomplish.

2. Project level collaboration: If we are to be an active force in the move to more sustainable cities, we have to do more than act as a sit-behind-the-desk publisher. Indeed the nature of the challenge requires that we get into the field and work closely with people and organizations locally who share our concerns and values to organize: conferences, courses, public hearings, workshops, brainstorming sessions, master classes, debates, media appearances, and public events in support of the sustainable transport agenda. We do this pretty well but we need people like you to help us make the necessary local or national contacts to do this.

3. Working partners/financial support: Our primary working partners for moving the sustainable transport agenda from theory to practice are cities, public agencies, operators, funded NGOs and associations. These key institutions with broad responsibilities to guide policy and investments in the field. Can you help us make contact with well-placed people and organizations that you have worked with or know?

4. Foundations: I sincerely believe that World Streets is good enough, unique enough, to qualify for the support of institutions, agencies, foundations, and also well-to-do individuals who share our sense of mission. These kinds of contacts are not my strong suit, so your help here is absolutely critical.

That’s it. No more to say but welcome aboard and stay tuned to World Streets and all the rest that make up the New Mobility Agenda in 2011 and beyond. If you have questions or suggestions, this is the place to turn.

Make it yours.

Eric Britton

PS. Power of metaphors. As you can see from the heading on this note, and as surely you have remarked when you come to World Streets, we give a lot of attention to the visual images that announce our articles. Images reach beyond words, and if you have not yet checked this out, here is our growing collection of World Streets Images in their day by day form in cities around the world.

One thought on “We have no money gentlemen, so we shall have to think.”

I am honored to be able to record here publically the names of fifty two friends and colleagues around the world who have over the last two years dug into their pockets, sometimes more than once, to help keep World Streets going. While the actual donations varied from as little as a few dollars from students wishing to chip in with a note of thanks, to several generous people who were able to send in a thousand dollars, and in several cases more, the average ran on the order of $50.00. Important contributions every one of them that were good for our books and great for our morale.